Sasol earnings rise by 17%

Global chemicals and energy company Sasol said on Monday that its headline earnings per share had risen 17 percent to R17,67 in the six months ended 31 December 2017, above market guidance

The company, which produces liquid fuels, chemicals and low-carbon electricity, declared a dividend per share of R5, up four percent from the previous comparative period, and said it had invested R681 million in skills and socio-economic development.

Sales volumes were impacted by supply chain bottlenecks in December, with performance chemicals up three percent, while base chemicals dipped one percent and liquid fuels sales volumes were down three percent percent.

Natref’s production volumes were down 21 percent owing to plant shutdowns and an unexpected Eskom electricity supply interruption at the start of the financial period.

The company said the current economic climate remained volatile and uncertain and oil price and foreign exchange movements outside its control may impact its results, but its focus remained firmly on managing volume growth, cost optimisation, effective capital allocation, focused financial risk management and maintaining an investment grade credit rating.

“We expect an overall strong operational performance for the year ending 30 June 2018,” it added.

Sasol said base chemicals sales volumes, excluding merchant ethylene, were likely to be between one percent and three percent higher in the year to June 2018 than the prior year, with US dollar product pricing expected to follow oil prices.

Normalised operating profit for the full financial year was estimated to be between R3 billion to R5 billion, the company said.